1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a workspace management method, a workspace management system, a computer readable medium storing a program for managing a window displayed in response to start-up of an application as a workspace for user interface.
2. Related Art
In recent years, information is more diversified, and the amount of information is enormous. An individual personal computer (PC) is not exceptional. The user performs a work on the PC by starting various applications and opening various documents at the same time. When various kinds of information is displayed or edited, various applications are employed. The operational scheme is different depending on the purpose or the kind of information. For example, a word processor is used for a text sentence, a draw tool is used in drawing a picture, and a Web browser is used to see a document on the Web.
In such a situation, various applications are started on the PC, and many documents are opened, for which the management is troublesome. In the Windows (registered trademark) that is a universal OS (Operating System), the active application and the opened document are iconized on a bar called a task bar, allowing the user to survey the currently active application and opened document (i.e., window). However, if the number of windows is increased, many icons are arranged, whereby it is troublesome to look for a desired icon on the task bar. To cope with this problem, a plurality of documents opened in the same application (e.g., Microsoft Word or Internet Explorer) are iconized as a unit on the task bar in the Windows.
However, there is one problem. An action (task) for the user to attain a certain purpose does not necessarily correspond to an application. That is, one task is not always completed in one application. Rather, two or more applications are often involved to accomplish one task. For example, in writing a technical article, the user displays a dictionary, an article read by himself or herself, his or her own article written before, and a draw tool for drawing the diagram at the same time (by activating the corresponding applications at the same time) in addition to a word processor. Also, in making the programming, an editor for editing the source code, the environment for compiling or debugging, a manual, and a Web browser (for retrieval as needed) are employed at the same time. In creating a mail, a mailer, a calendar, a schedule management system, and a name list management system are employed at the same time. Further, in these tasks, individual applications or documents are arranged on the desk top to the user's liking to constitute a working space for the user. Such working space corresponding to the task of the user is called a “workspace” in this specification.
Usually, the user mostly performs various tasks in parallel. After reading or writing a mail, the user reads others' articles, and further writes his or her own thesis. At this time, a work of switching the tasks is often troublesome. There occurs a problem that it is required to click the icon many times to make plural applications or documents active, or it is not possible to place the same document at a different position in a different workspace. What the user wants to do is to switch the tasks, or workspaces, and manage them. The switching or management of the applications only imposes the system's convenience on the user. Various applications or documents are arranged flexibly to the user's liking to make the configuration of the workspace more easy, whereby it is required that the switching of the workspaces occurring in switching the tasks can be made simply.